Here is the sentence from the press release that intrigues me:
Demanding customers with specific requirements in terms of performance of the servers, security of their data, or even due to specific geographic distribution of their users, now have the choice of using their own network infrastructure and use 3DXplorer as a traditional software, installed on their own servers and managed by their own IT team, instead of using it in the standard SaaS mode (Software as a Service).
Ouch! Altadyn originally launched 3DXplorer as a cloud app; now it's coming back down to earth because, well, because customers want to be in control of their data. The advantages of going cloud-free are:
- Server performance -- it's faster to run software on your own local computers than over the Internet. Indeed, Altadyn's own press release says you can use an old klunker for the server.
- Data security -- it's safer to store your data in-house than hand it off to ???.
- Geographic distribution -- not sure what this one means, but if all the employees are in one office (instead of dispersed like cottonwood seed), then there is no need for running off a cloud.
- Own IT team -- probably means the fee charged by Altadyn might be cheaper.
Altadyn says you can transition from the Saas (cloud) version to the behind-the-firewall version in three easy steps. A few more details here: www.3dxplorer.com/static-v3/pdf/3DX_Enterprise.pdf (the Web site is not yet updated for this new product).
I remember debating this cloud nonsense with a couple of guys at PLM World this past June. My position then and now was that for reasons of security alone cloud computing was out as the only secure network or PC is the one that DOES NOT go online. Why anyone would want to wait for the vagaries of ISP throughput to load or save cadcam files is beyond me.
I know personaly of a company close to me that experiences downtime on a T1 line far more often than you might think and for periods of up to a half a day to rectify the issues. This whole cloud thing is nothing more than "dotcom bubble" hype by people with a vested interest in selling something and those who have an irrational fascination with anything "new" even if it is counter productive.
Cloud computing is just about as usefull as twitter is to anyone who wishes to communicate more than what color is the tp I am using while on the throne.
Posted by: Dave Ault | Aug 20, 2009 at 07:24 AM